City of Harahan 2022 Annual Report

Four years ago, I promised to unite and move our city forward like never before. It hasn’t been easy but a global pandemic, two hurricanes, economic/civil/political uncertainty, and millions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure projects later, the ways of the past are behind us, and we ARE moving forward!
I am so proud to be the Mayor of this wonderful place we call home.
By working hard and smart, Harahan has built solid relationships in Jefferson Parish, in Baton Rouge and in Washington, D.C..
These relationships have resulted in millions of dollars in state and federal Grants for our city, with millions more available. And our… City of Harahan 2022 Annual Report
leadership and representation in the Parish, in Baton Rouge and in D.C. has never been stronger – both elected and non-elected.
• State Senator Kirk Talbot/Representative John Illg are two of the most effective leaders at the State Capital today and have helped Harahan secure much needed Capital Outlay funds
• Parish Representatives Deano Bonano, Ricky Templet, Scott Walker and our good friends Cynthia Lee-Sheng, Dominick Impastato and Jennifer van Vrancken continue to work in our interest
• Jefferson Parish Director of Flood Plain Management, Michelle Gonzales and Maggie Talley, Director of Hazard Mitigation are working on some exciting news for our efforts to revitalize Zeringue Park
• Senators John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy and Congressman Steve Scalise have been tremendous advocates for Harahan – in particular, continuing to push FEMA on all post-Ida issues
Our discussions continue with the U.S. Coast Guard (New Orleans and DC), the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy about a potential National security and training program in Harahan.
Finally, we are working to gain Sister Cities in Germany, Japan, Namibia and even the Kingdom of Bhutan.
Harahan most definitely represents What’s Possible! I am excited about what the future holds for this great community. It is an honor and privilege to represent you and our city!
Todd St. Cyr, Chief Fire Department
Tim Walker, Chief Police Department
Gary Fleming Assistant Director, Maintenance
Stu Foley Recreation Director
William Barrett Maintenance
John Boudreaux Regulatory Clerk
Jimmy Bradley Maintenance
Samantha Johnston Human Resources
Cherie Johnston Finance Supervisor
Dina Gunckel Girls Recreation Director
Carrie Huestis City Clerk
Denys Lopez Clerk of Court
Edwin Lauricella Director, Maintenance
Carson Keller, Student UNO Governmental Affairs Intern
Cherie Ledet Regulatory
Joshua LeBouef Maintenance
Perry Mains, Student Tulane Governmental Affairs Intern
Louise Chapman Special Court Admin
Deano Bonano, Representative Parish District Two
Cynthia Lee-Sheng, President Jefferson Parish
Scott Stansbury City Attorney
Todd Tournillon Director, Finance
Bryan St. Cyr Assistant Chief, Police Department
Meredith Martinez Regulatory Clerk
Shantell Richoux Finance Clerk
Damian Stevens, Student Univ. of Western Cape Special Projects
Carlo Ferrara Special Projects
Ricky Templet, Representative Parish At-Large
Scott Walker, Representative Parish At-Large
Kirk Talbot, State Senator State of Louisiana
John Illg, State Representative State of Louisiana
In 2022, the City of Harahan was once again recognized as the safest city in Louisiana. We have an incredible team of first responders.
Michael Barnett Police Officer
Chris Benoit Firefighter, Captain Jordan Bloomer Police Officer
Braden Brown Firefighter
Lee Brown Firefighter
Christine Champagne Jailer/Dispatch
Dino Chiozza Firefighter
Gus Ciccio Police Mechanic
Eric Crovetto Police, Sergeant William Cunningham Firefighter
Jonathan Davis Police Officer
David Darwin Police, Sergeant
Drew Deacon Police, Sergeant Joshua Dudenhoeffer Firefighter
Helen Dufrene Police Records Clerk
John Dunning Police Officer
Tyler Dupuy Firefighter
Kevin Durr Firefighter
Richard Esteves Firefighter, Recruit Benjamin Evans Police Officer
Alex Florian Police Officer
Hunter Fontenot Firefighter
Constance Hadden Jailer/Dispatch
Gary Hopkins Firefighter
Danny Johnson Police Officer
Mark Jovanovich Police, Sergeant
Kathleen Lewis Police Chief Secretary
Austin Lowe Police Officer
Sean Lombardi Police, Sergeant
Eleanor Malbrough Police Records Clerk
Kerry McMillion Firefighter
Kerry McMillon, Jr. Firefighter
Robert McNamara Firefighter, Captain
Eric Meyers Police Officer
David Mitchell Police, Sergeant
Kevin Mullins Firefighter, Recruit
Allena Nacio Police Officer
Paul Oestringer Firefighter Charles Schaub Firefighter
Nicolas Schneider Police Officer
Scott St. Cyr Firefighter
Grant Stevens Firefighter
Bruce Stiebing Police Officer
Janeth Stoulig Dispatch/Jailer
In 2022, the City of Harahan continued partnering with public and private organizations and agencies to help build an economically stronger community for our citizens and businesses. We are implementing a strategic long-term economic development plan to enhance opportunity and most importantly quality of life for the citizens of Harahan.
The effort to develop a strategic Resource Team – one that is committed to our vision of the future, is unprecedented in the history of Harahan. This growing resource team includes some of the best strategic thinkers in public and private circles and includes, but is not limited to:
Robby Abboud, Asst. Director Louisiana Economic Development
Jerry Bologna, Jefferson Economic Development Commission
Jeff Brooks, Partner Adams & Reese – Washington D.C.
Rob Chong Pipe Works, Plumbing & Demo
Pete Crean, Vice President of Education & Access National World War II Museum
Kelly Cazaux, Owner Blue Flash Sewer Service
Susanne Cooper, Honorary Consul General Federal Republic of Germany
Johnny Domiano, Partner Adams & Reese – New Orleans
Leslie Durham, Federal Co-Chairwomen Delta Regional Authority
Tim Falcon, Owner/Chairman NOLA Gold, Major League Rugby Jack Fleming, President Fleming Construction
Donna Fraiche, Honorary Consul General Government of Japan
Jeff Frank, Lead Designer Corbin Design
Michelle Gonzales, Director Department of Ecosystems and Coastal Management Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Katherine Smyth Haskins, V.P. and Chief Development Officer German Marshall Fund
Patrick Hamby, Regional Customer Service Manager Entergy
Jenny James, Executive Director Young Audiences of Louisiana
Nathan Junius, P.E., P.L.S. Linfield, Hunter & Junius, Inc.
Ruth Lawson, President Jefferson Parish Chamber of Commerce
Admiral James Loy, Senior Director The Cohen Group
Rachel McCormick, Ph.D. Global Affairs Canada
Alison McGuigan, Vice President The Cohen Group
Megan Bel Miller
Congressman Steve Scalise
Brian McNabb, State Director U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D.
David Murphy, Senior Principle Crawford Architecture
Todd Murphy, Chief Executive Officer The M Group
Rick Meyer, P.E. Meyer Engineers
Stacey Neal, Director Community Competitiveness Louisiana Economic Development
Rachel Perez, Deputy State Director U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D.
Emily Pitts, Communications Director Bhutan Foundation
Katie Pryor, Founder/Director Film USA
Rusty Reeves, Executive Director Louisiana Rural Water Association
Nathalie Sharpf, Donor Relations German Marshall Fund
Christopher Stelly, Executive Group Director Louisiana Entertainment
Maggie Tally, Director
Floodplain Management & Hazard Mitigation Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Ann M. Theriot, P.E. Meyer Engineers
Emily Torrence, Manager Corbin Design
Kristi L. Trail, P.E., Executive Director Pontchartrain Conservancy
Allyce Trapp, Government Affairs Adams & Reese – Baton Rouge
Fred Trowbridge, Regional Director Congressman Steve Scalise Dan Wagner, President BLD Services
Tshewang Wangchuk, Executive Director Bhutan Foundation
Colin Wellenkamp, Executive Director Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative
Ross White, Regional Director & Coalitions Director U.S. Senator John Kennedy
Jason Wilson, Economic Development Representative U.S. Economic Development Administration Austin Regional Office
Maggie Woodruff, Director of Economic Development New Orleans Regional Planning Commission
In 2022, the City of Harahan elected two new City Council members to join our three incumbents. Paul Johnston and Michael Ricks bring private and public sector experience and will join Jason Asbill, Tom Budde and Eric Chatelain in helping move the city forward.
In addition to two new Councilmen, Harahan will have a new Police Chief. Ed Lepre has an extensive background in law enforcement and private sector security experience. His outstanding relationships with Kenner and Jefferson Parish Law Enforcement leaders will help make our Police Department the best in the state.
We continue to develop our relationships with the Parish, the State and Federal partners – even international. Our relationships with Kenner, Westwego, Gretna, Lafitte and Grand Isle have never been stronger. We are blessed to have outstanding representation in Baton Rouge – two stars: Senator Kirk Talbot and Representative “Big” John Illg. Of course, we have a tremendous team in D.C. with Congressman Steve Scalise and Senators Kennedy and Cassidy. Even Congressman Troy Carter knows things are happening in Harahan. We also have tremendous friends with the Consul Generals for Germany and Japan – Susanne Cooper and Donna Fraiche. In 2022, Harahan began the process of finding Sister Cities in Germany, Japan and the Kingdom of Bhutan –pretty exciting!
We view every challenge as an opportunity to get better and are undertaking the most comprehensive repair and replacement program of our entire sewer systems since maybe the inception of our city. Finding real solutions and not just band-aiding problems.
Wilson Street was the most complex and challenging undertaking the city has ever tackled. Replacing and upgrading our aging sewer system along the Wilson Street corridor and eventually adding a new separate line to our Wastewater Treatment Facility. While confronting a different set of challenges, our team worked together and found solutions that will bring a level of stability to that area of our sewer system.
The subsurface area consisted of fine silty material (most likely an old riverbed) and ground water (river water and aquifer). Moving forward recklessly without a real solution would be simply repeating the same mistakes made over the past five decades – and wasting thousands if not, millions of dollars down the road. Beta Engineering performed soil tests (~60’ soil samples) all along Wilson and the Pontchartrain Conservancy conducted an extensive water infiltration study throughout our entire sewer system. With this data, we were able to make a few adjustments to traditional engineering.
These changes include, but are not limited to:
1. Adding up to four screw pilings under each manhole; this obviously will add tremendous stability to our sewer line – although at a significant additional cost; and
2. Using an epoxy-resin pipe lining on the new sewer lines will add strength to the overall line; and
3. Use a simple trench box – designed by National Trench Safety Corp., adding additional stability to the entire sewer line
All of this is part of over $2m worth of infrastructure upgrades along the "Wilson Corridor" (funded primarily through Capital Outlay, LDEQ and Delta Regional Authority grants). We replaced Lift Station #5. Repaired/Upgraded Lift Station #6/Roseland/Wilson. Moved Wilson Street Sewer line. In 2023, we will begin rehabilitating more manholes throughout the city. All part of a concentrated effort to reduce/eliminate sand infiltration in our sewer plant – the #1 killer of equipment. We have already seen a 75% reduction in sand at the plant. Now we can focus our upgrading efforts at the WWTP, not simply band-aiding the problems.
Our next plans: $4+m upgrade of the sewer plant (Water Sector Grant - pending) and a $1.5m force main from Lift Station #6 directly to the sewer plant (splitting our city sewer system in half and relieving pressure off Lift Station #8; US EDA grant - pending).
Sewer is never fun to talk about and is an expensive endeavor but is a key factor in our efforts to help our businesses to succeed and our community to grow.
In February, the world united behind Ukraine...including right here in little ol’ Harahan. While it's not the Eifel Tower in Paris or Burj Khalifa in Dubai, it's what we can do to show our support. Great work from our maintenance team!!!!
In April, an amazing group of Harahan kids sold Lemonade in front of the Harahan Gym with proceeds going directly to Ukrainian relief efforts. And before you think this is just another cute little local story – one of the largest and most historic trans-Atlantic NGOs based in D.C. and Berlin is greatly appreciative of their efforts. A portion of the proceeds went to the historic German Marshal Fund. GMF posted and shared among their network and along with our social media posts, received over 11,000 impressions and 3,000 engagements.
Harahan is blessed with a business community that is full of spirit and determination. In 2022, we continued to celebrate the success of our amazing businesses with special ribbon cutting ceremonies – they are a huge hit. Even celebrating with Woods Resources christening two new boats in their fleet. Just another reminder of what a great community we live in.
Our city continued its winning ways as well. Brother Martin won another State Bowling title and the Tulane Women’s team qualified for the NCAA National Championship Regionals. Both call Harahan and the iconic Colonial Lanes Bowling Center “home”. Our very own Smoked brought home more hardware, winning the 2022 Top Taco Critiques Choice Award at LaFreniere Park.
So yes, we have reason to celebrate. Whether your business opened in 2022 or opened in 1963, we are so excited you are part of Harahan – a BIG part of Harahan.
11 young men from Harahan that were called upon to defend the freedoms we enjoy today did not return from battle. To honor our heroes, Harahan, working with many public and private partners, is embarking on an ambitious plan to create a destination memorial. This park will include a water wall for reflection, gathering space for concerts and festivals and a new playground. The park will also have a section of the old Berlin Wall –the only one in Louisiana and is another reminder of how valuable our freedom is.
Philip Zeringue March 26, 1942
Thomas Picone July 2, 1942
Lionel Vicknair August 13, 1943
Felix Zeringue February 24, 1944 Salvador Rando March 1, 1945
January 4, 1971
Michael J. Farrell October 17, 1967
Salvador L. Monte Jr December 1, 1967
Kenneth Ainsworth February 2, 1968 Mason E. Ragland April 25, 1970
Robert L. DuSang June 30, 2004
Prior to Ida, City had a vision to revitalize the playground and youth sports in Harahan. These plans included enhancing existing programs while offering even more high-quality alternative sports programs and opportunities for the youth of our city and surrounding communities. The proposed “Park of Champions” plan will be implemented to give all kids the opportunity to play at the best facilities with the greatest number of resources.
The focus of these ideas centered around three components:
• REENGAGE with public/private partners both new and old to provide a place for everyone to feel welcome and involved
• REINVEST in our facilities to provide our workforce with the skills, knowledge, tools, financial resources, and operating environment necessary for our children and teams to succeed; and
• REINVENT creative ways to engage the youth of our community and to plan, design, adapt, and manage the recreation offerings into the future
Obviously, Ida put a hold on those activities. We have rough estimates submitted to FEMA to repair/replace content for the gym – a little over $1 million. We do not plan on tearing down the Gym as both Meyer and Crawford Arch feel like the gym has “good bones” to work with.
We have been transitioning our focus from the Fire Station to the Gym with FEMA/Meyer/State. Since the building is older than 50 years old – adds another review to the process. There are a few roads we can choose once we get the final costs to repair/replace things there. It’s painfully bureaucratic but we are making some progress. I am hopeful we can get started this summer or at the latest fall.
The ballfields are coming along. For timing and financial reasons, the Little League field will be turfed this season, with the larger baseball field turfed next year. The invoices will be paid by the city and submitted to FEMA for reimbursement as a “Completed Project”. Hopefully, a less time-consuming process and one that appears to be more tolerable.
Reinventing creative ways to engage the youth of our community and to plan, design, adapt, and manage the recreation offerings into the future
Our plans are to build Harahan Playground into one of the top facilities in the region. Development of our Recreation Department is mission critical for having a community that's ready to grow.
Doing so positions Harahan in the youth sports market as a destination place to play, grow and learn. The park will continue to provide a positive impact on the local economy, with a goal to generate enough tournament income to account for a portion of the Sports Park budget.
Along with traditional “stick and ball” sports, we envision offering a wide range of “alternative” sports.
Additionally, Harahan can host any number of Olympic sport clubs, regional and national championships. These events and with support of the U.S. Olympic Governing bodies can help build Harahan’s reputation of a Regional Sports Hub. Our Special Projects Manager and University of Western Cape student Damian Stevens, began contacting these Olympic Sports Committees about such events. This could include, but not be limited to:
• Badminton (New Orleans Badminton Club has been in existence since 1938)
• Fencing (Dr. E. Hamori, Tulane University; 1956 Olympic Gold medalist)
• Handball (Team USA making effort to expand interest in sport)
• Judo (USA Judo supports several regional and state championship events)
• Rugby (Harahan Rugby Club established in 2021; NOLA Gold; 2031 Rugby World Cup in USA)
• Table Tennis (Northshore hosts annual events)
• Volleyball (one of Harahan’s favorite sport already)
Created and implemented by our Governmental Affairs Intern and Tulane student, Perry Mains, Harahan Restaurant Week and HarahanEats.com was created to promote the city's local restaurants through the establishment of Restaurant Week as well as internet and social media promotions.
It was a rousing success, receiving multiple media inquires and articles including being feature on NOLA.com. We look forward to another amazing week later in 2023.
Film productions in Harahan saw a tremendous uptick. At one point in 2022, there were 4 separate productions being shot at 5 different locations in the City of Harahan…on the same day!!! In addition to the economic impact film has on the city, it is also a branding opportunity. Beginning in 2023, every production will acknowledge and display the FilmHarahan logo during ending credits.
FilmHarahan was also invited to join and participate in FilmUSA. Film USA is a national, non-profit trade organization bringing together state and regional film commissions across the USA under one umbrella to provide clear information about our diverse tax incentives, locations, stages, and resources. Together, we are one voice to represent the USA film industry and help connect partners to film offices across the country.
2022,
Despite heavy rain mid-way through a beautiful day, the 2022 Harahan Music Festival and Team Harahan kicked into action and with the generosity of the musicians continued ALL performances safely at Uncle Matt’s Bar & Patio. A big Thank You to The Victory Belles, Amanda Shaw & The Cute Guys, and Jamie Bernstein & the Yakameiniacs to a great crowd.
Over 3,000 items of food and water for the St. Rita Food Pantry is amazing enough. What a great event - despite the weather!!!!
Our mission reflects Harahan’s belief in the power of personal connections. We seek to create relationships with like populations and challenges based on cultural, educational, information and commercial exchanges. We hope to develop a lifelong friendship between Harahan and International Small Towns that provide prosperity and peace through “citizen diplomacy.” We desire to participate in exchanges in arts and culture, business and trade, youth and education, and community development that not only brings us friendship, but also allows us to tackle the world’s most pressing issues at the local level
• Cultural Exchange Program – which could include history, sports, and tourism
• Letter exchange between Harahan Elementary School, St. Rita, Faith Lutheran with similar schools
• Environmental Awareness Exchange Program
The City of Harahan hopes to collaborate in establishing a cultural exchange through art, literature, music, and cuisine. To do this, we will solicit our respective communities for cultural works to present to our sister community. In doing so, we hope to spread happiness and cultural awareness to both communities.
To support our aims of cultural exchange between our two cities, we hope to establish a Letter Exchange program between the students of Harahan and our partner cities. Students would be given the option to communicate to a student in the respective school and thereby participate in a cultural exchange.
With partner communities, we can greatly serve Harahan’s aims of creating a more resilient community. Meanwhile, Harahan’s robust recovery from two hurricanes can serve as an example to our partners as well.
Working with State Capital Outlay money dedicated to Streetscaping, the City of Harahan has partnered with Corbin Design to develop and design a strategic signage program. This plan will not only help people navigate our streets and roads but will also welcome them with our historically-inspired brand.
Plans are to begin implementation of this project in 2023.
2023CapitalOutlayRequest
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We continue to work with FEMA and GOHSEP to secure our reimbursement and recovery efforts from Hurricane Ida. This has been a long and arduous journey, but we are starting to see some progress. More importantly, our partner/vendors who helped Harahan back on our feet have been paid in full.
The below is just a snap-shot of the thousands of pages of documents we have submitted to FEMA for review. The total costs do not include total replacement costs – which most likely will happen with one or more city structures. As of 12/31/2023:
Hurricane Zeta
Projects GOHSEP
#67 City of Harahan- Debris Removal
A Small $89,996 90% n/a 100% $80,996 10/17/2022
#109 City of Harahan- Emergency Protective MeasuresB Small $31,759 90% n/a 100% $23,819 10/17/2022 $4,764 9/30/2022
#171 Harahan G Small $15,483 90% n/a 100% $2,322 9/30/2022 $11,612 10/17/2022
Total: $137,237 $123,514
Hurricane Ida(GOHSEP)
Projects
#454 Temporary Housing
B Large $178,679 100% 0 80% $142,943 9/30/2022
#551 Emergency Protecive Measures B Large $164,683 100% 0 80% $131,746 9/9/2022
#693 Emergency Protecive Measures B Large $454,169 100% 0 0% $0
#697 Temporary Housing B Small $3,911 90% n/a 100% $3,911 9/9/2022
#709 City of Harahan- Emergency Protective MeasuresA Large $995,892 90% 0 0% $717,042 12/28/2022
#829 Emergency Protecive Measures B Small $5,310 90% n/a 100% $5,310 9/9/2022
#833 City of Harahan- Debris Removal
A Large $1,068,211 100% 0 0% $816,498 12/28/2022
#950 Emergency Protecive Measures B Small $5,803 100% n/a 100% $5,803 9/9/2022
#1355 Emergency Protective Measures - Fire B Small $36,703 100% n/a 100% $0
#1524 Emergency Protecive Measures - Police B Small $314,344 100% 0 0% $0
Total: $3,227,705 $1,823,254
Balance Owed: $1,404,451
Projects
Category Type ProcessStep BestAvailableCosts FederalShare
656837 Buildings andEquipment- City Hall/Police E Standard Pending $224,830 $202,347 656845 Buildings andEquipment- Fire #25 E Standard Pending $2,786,700 $2,508,030 656854 Buildings andEquipment- SeniorCenter E Standard Pending $305,280 $274,752 656857 Utilities - WWTP F Standard Pending $1,068,000 $961,200 659873 Buildings andEquipment- Fire #27 E Standard Pending $150,000 $150,000 659875 Buildings andEquipment- Gym E Standard Pending $1,018,562 $916,706 663382 RoylandDamage G Standard Pending $100,000 $100,000 665228 WWTP-BleachTank F Standard Pending $50,000 $45,000 665435 WWTP-Building F Standard Pending $103,500 $93,150 674011 Buildings andEquipment- Maintenance E Standard Pending $189,000 $189,000 674012 Utilities - WWTP Electric F Standard Pending $1,200,000 $1,200,000 67378 Management Z Standard Pending $8,934 $8,934 676135 Roads andBridges - Lights C Standard Pending $25,000 $25,000 $7,229,806 $6,674,119 *